Sweet! This summer’s Pitchfork Music Festival added Mew to the bill this week! Love them. Also added were Yeasayer, Plants and Animals, Disappears, Blitzen Trapper, Japandroids, and Women. This probably seals the deal for me as far as attending. I went to the first Pitchfork Festival back in and it was prettyawesome.
[mp3] Mew | 156 (live – P3 Session)

Lots and lots of good things happening lately. Last week was the opening of “I’m With The Band,” an art show at Dahlak on 18th & U featuring five photos by yours truly. The opening reception was last Thursday and it was packed! Thanks to everyone for coming out. Don’t fret if you missed it, the exhibit is open through the first week of May. You can see photos from the opening here and here.
Also, The Examiner ran a story on one of my photos on Sunday.
Last, but certainly not least, today’s edition of the Washington Post features one of my Katy Perry photos from her show last Friday.

I’ve always been pretty meh about Longwave. All style and no substance. I would constantly hear people talk about how great they were but none of their recorded material did a thing for me. I remember being very excited to hear their 2005 album There’s A Fire because the great and wonderful John Leckie produced it but it didn’t do it for me. They piqued my interest again a few months later when they picked up former Sea Ray (RIP) keyboardist and all-around good guy Jeff Sheinkopf for a while, but he eventually left the band and my interest faded.
Anyways, I had still never seen them live so I thought I would give them a shot on Sunday at the 9:30 and I am so very glad I did. Not sure what has happened to them in the last few years, but man, they were straight fire. I was gobsmacked! Gone were the breezy pop songs I remembered, in their place was a wall of guitar effects that Ride or Spooky-era Lush would be proud of. And lead singer Steve Schiltz has the pipes to keep up too. They were amazing. Wikipedia says they put out a record at the end of last year. I’m going to have to track that down ASAP.
Also, the band said they were recording the gig for future use. There were quite a few video cameras set up around the venue. Hopefully they share that with all of us before too long.[Photo Gallery]Longwave @ 9:30 Club

Bloc Party put on a killer show at the 9:30 Club last night. Kele came out onstage wearing a Clinton Portis jersey! Pretty awesome. Head over to DCist for a short review and more photos. I’ll have the full set up in a few days. Loving my new 5D, BTW.

I interviewed bassist Gordon Moakes (not pictured) in advance of their show at the 9:30 Club on Sunday. Some excerpts:So the new record, Intimacy. It was co-produced by “Jacknife” Lee and Paul Epworth. You’ve worked with each of them in the past. How do you get a cohesive sound out of two different producers?
For us, in terms of a cohesive record, we were hoping for the best really, but we wanted two separate elements. It was kind of part of the idea to have two different producers to work on two completely different ends of the record and trust in them that it would come together and not sound disjointed. And I think it worked in that sense.This record has a more electronic sound. Is that something you worked on prior to entering the studio or was that something that came about while you were recording?
It was a blueprint, in a way, for the record. The main thing being on a certain number of songs (lead singer and songwriter) Kele wanted to not write in a traditional way–you know, instruments in a room, turn up and play–but actually building that from scratch with software on a computer. We found actually that the two do complement each other, that there were times when we did need a live drum sound. But we were approaching music slightly differently for us. To not think of a band in a room playing music. You have to strike a balance. If we approached a whole record like that, then you are in danger of losing that spark of what we are as a band, collectively. The ideas come when we play together, so you don’t want to lose all of that organic quality.
Go read the full interview over at DCist.

What I am assuming is the cover for the new Super Furry Animals album, which is being released today! Details below.
Super Furry Animals brand new album Dark Days/Light Years will be performed in its entirety on Monday March 16th, at Noon PST/3pm EST/8pm UK time in an exclusive ‘once only screening’ gigcast hosted at superfurry.com filmed in conjunction with MusicBox, Cardiff, and graduate filmmakers from Central St Martins College, London.
The album is available to buy immediately as a download from the start of the gig on Monday!
Full Tracklisting for Dark Days/Light Years as follows:
1. Crazy Naked Girls.
2. Mt.
3. Moped Eyes.
4. Inaugural Trams.
5. Inconvenience.
6. Cardiff In The Sun.
7. The Very Best Of Neil Diamond.
8. Helium Hearts.
9. White Socks / Flip Flops.
10. Where Do You Wanna Go?
11. Lliwiau Llachar.
12. Pric.
[MP3] Super Furry Animals | Inaugural Trams

About

Kyle Gustafson is a web editor, freelance photographer and blogger based in Washington D.C. Online since 2003, Information Leafblower features photos, links and commentary about a wide range of topics, most frequently music, sports and photography. And, cat pictures. Lots of cat pictures.